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A  LETTER  FROM 

THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 
LOS  ANGELES 


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AMERICANISM  IN 
RELIGION 


AMERICANISM  IN 
RELIGION 


CHICAGO 

THE   BLAKELY-OSWALD  CO. 

1908 


Copyright,  1908,  by 
Edward  E.  Swadener 


^  ^  lib 

THE  INTRODUCTION^"^  /T 


URING  the  presi- 
dential campaign  of 
1908  an  attempt 
^11  was  made  to  inject 
into  it  the  question  as  to  the  re- 
ligious belief  of  the  republican  can- 
didate for  president  of  the  United 
States— Mr.  Taft. 

A  number  of  letters  on  the  sub- 
ject were  written  to  President 
Roosevelt  from  various  parts  of  the 
country  but  he  answered  none  of 
them  during  the  campaign. 

After   the   campaign   was    over, 


2(J240r)6 


The  Introduction 


however,  the  president  wrote  an 
answer  to  one  as  an  answer  to  all, 
and  made  the  letter  public,  and  it 
was  pubHshed  in  the  newspapers 
throughout  the  country. 

The  letter  as  an  exposition  of 
true  Americanism  in  religion  met 
with  approbation  from  all  sides, 
but  as  it  was  not  in  permanent 
form  for  preservation  the  compiler 
of  this  book  felt  that  a  service 
would  be  done  the  American  people 
by  having  it  made  so,  inasmuch  as 
he  felt  that  it  was  something  which 
should  be  preserved  for  reference 
in  every  library  in  our  country. 


THE    LETTER 


"My  dear  sir:  I  have  received 
your  letter  running  in  part  as 
follows: 

"  'While    it   is    claimed   almost 

universally  that  religion  should  not 

enter  into  politics,  yet  there  is  no 

denying  it  does,  and  the  mass  of 

the  voters  that  are   not  Catholics 

will   not   support  a    man   for   any 

office,   especially  for   president    of 

the  United  States,  who  is  a  Roman 

Catholic. 

[11] 


12  The  Letter 

'Since  Taft  has  been  nomi- 
nated for  president  by  the  repub- 
lican party,  it  is  being  circulated 
and  is  constantly  urged  as  a  reason 
for  not  voting  for  Taft,  that  he  is 
an  infidel  [Unitarian] ,  and  his  wife 
and  brother  Roman  Catholics.  If 
his  feelings  are  in  sympathy  with 
the  Roman  Catholic  church  on  ac- 
count of  his  wife  and  brother  being 
Catholics,  that  would  be  objection- 
able to  a  sufficient  number  of 
voters  to  defeat  him.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  he  is  an  infidel,  that  would 
be  sure  to  mean  defeat.  I  am 
writing  this  letter  for  the  sole  pur- 


The  Letter  13 

pose  of  giving  Mr.  Taft  an  oppor- 
tunity to  let  the  world  know  what 
his  religious  belief  is.' 

shouldn't  be  used  in  politics. 
' '  I  received  many  such  letters 
as  yours  during  the  campaign,  ex- 
pressing dissatisfaction  with  Mr. 
Taft  on  religious  grounds;  some  of 
them  on  the  ground  that  he  was  a 
Unitarian  and  others  on  the  ground 
that  he  was  suspected  to  be  in 
sympathy  with  Catholics.  I  did 
not  answer  any  of  these  letters 
during  the  campaign,  because  I 
regarded  it  as  an  outrage  even  to 
agitate  such  a  question  as  a  man's 


14  The  Letter 

religious  convictions  with  the  pur- 
pose of  influencing  a  political 
election. 

"But  now  that  the  campaign  is 
over,  when  there  is  opportunity  for 
men  calmly  to  consider  wither  such 
propositions  as  those  you  make  in 
your  letter  would  lead,  I  wish  to 
invite  them  to  consider  them,  and 
I  have  selected  your  letter  to 
answer  because  you  advance  both 
the  objections  commonly  urged 
against  Mr.  Taft — namely:  that  he 
is  a  Unitarian  and  also  that  he  is 
suspected  of  sympathy  with  the 
Catholics. 


The  Letter  15 

"You  ask  that  Mr.  Taft  shall 
'let  the  world  know  what  his  re- 
ligious behef  is.'  This  is  purely 
his  own  private  concern,  and  it  is 
a  matter  between  him  and  his 
Maker,  a  matter  for  his  own  con- 
science; and  to  require  it  to  be 
made  pubhc  under  penalty  of 
political  discrimination  is  to  nega- 
tive the  first  principles  of  our  gov- 
ernment, which  guarantee  complete 
religious  liberty  and  the  right  to 
each  man  to  act  in  religious  affairs 
as  his  own  conscience  dictates. 

'  *  Mr.  Taft  never  asked  m}'  ad- 
vice in  the  matter,  but  if  he  had 


1 6  The  Letter 

asked  it  I  should  have  emphatically 
advised  him  against  thus  stating 
publicly  his  religious  belief.  The 
demand  for  a  statement  of  a  can- 
didate's religious  belief  can  have 
no  meaning  except  that  there  may 
be  discrimination  for  or  against 
him  because  of  that  beHef. 

HALT  TO  TRUE  LIBERTY. 

"Discrimination  against  the 
holder  of  one  faith  means  retah- 
atory  discrimination  against  men 
of  other  faiths.  The  inevitable  re- 
sult of  entering  upon  such  a  prac- 
tice would  be  an  abandonment  of 


The  Letter  17 

our  real  freedom  of  conscience  and 
a  reversion  to  the  dreadful  condi- 
tions of  religious  dissension  which 
in  so  many  lands  have  proved  fatal 
to  true  liberty;  to  true  religion,  and 
to  all  advance  in  civilization. 

"To  discriminate  against  a  thor- 
oughly upright  citizen  because  he 
belongs  to  some  particular  church 
or  because,  like  Abraham  Lincoln, 
he  has  not  avowed  his  allegiance 
to  any  church,  is  an  outrage  against 
that  liberty  of  conscience  which  is 
one  of  the  foundations  of  American 
life.  You  are  entitled  to  know 
whether  a  man  seeking  your  suf- 


1 8  The  Letter 

frages  is  a  man  of  clean  and  upright 
life,  honorable  in  all  his  dealings 
with  his  fellows,  and  fit  by  qualifi- 
cation and  purpose  to  do  well  in 
the  great  office  for  which  he  is  a 
candidate,  but  you  are  not  entitled 
to  know  matters  which  lie  purely 
between  himself  and  his  Maker. 

"  If  it  is  proper  or  legitimate  to 
oppose  a  man  for  being  a  Uni- 
tarian, as  was  John  Quincy  Adams, 
for  instance;  as  is  the  Rev.  Edward 
Everett  Hale,  at  the  present  mo- 
ment chaplain  of  the  senate  and 
an  American  of  whose  life  all  good 
Americans    are    proud  —  then    it 


The  Letter  19 

would  be  equally  proper  to  support 
or  oppose  a  man  because  of  his 
views  on  justification  by  faith  or 
the  method  of  administering  the 
sacrament  or  the  gospel  or  salva- 
tion by  works.  If  you  once  enter 
on  such  a  career  there  is  absolutely 
no  Hmit  at  which  you  can  legiti- 
mately stop. 

SLANDER  OF  FELLOW  CITIZENS. 

"So  much  for  your  objections 
to  Mr.  Taft  because  he  is  a  Uni- 
tarian. Now  for  your  objections 
to  him  because  you  think  his  wife 
and  brother  to  be  Roman  Catholics. 


20  The  Letter 

As  it  happens,  they  are  not;  but  if 
they  were,  or  if  he  were  a  Roman 
CathoHc  himself,  it  ought  not  to 
affect  in  the  sHghtest  degree  any 
man's  supporting  him  for  the  posi- 
tion of  president. 

' '  You  say  that  '  the  mass  of  the 
voters  who  are  not  CathoHcs  will 
not  support  a  man  for  any  office, 
especially  for  president  of  the 
United  States,  who  is  a  Roman 
Catholic'  I  believe  that  when  j^ou 
say  this  you  foully  slander  your 
fellow  countrymen.  I  do  not  for 
one  moment  believe  that  the  mass 
of  our  fellow  citizens,  or  that  any 


The  Letter  21 

considerable  number  of  our  fellow 
citizens,  can  be  influenced  by  such 
narrow  bigotry  as  to  refuse  to  vote 
for  any  thoroughly  upright  and  fit 
man  because  he  happens  to  have 
a  particular  religious  creed. 

' '  Such  a  consideration  should 
never  be  treated  as  a  reason  for 
either  supporting  or  opposing  a 
candidate  for  a  political  office.  Are 
you  aware  that  there  are  several 
states  in  this  union  where  the 
majority  of  the  people  are  now 
Catholics?  I  should  reprobate  in 
the  severest  terms  the  Catholics 
who  in  those  states  or  in  any  other 


22  The  Letter 

states  refused  to  vote  for  the  most 
lit  man  because  he  happened  to  be 
a  Protestant;  and  my  condemna- 
tion would  be  exactly  as  severe  for 
Protestants  who,  under  reversed 
circumstances,  refused  to  vote  for 
a  Catholic. 

WHERE  CREED  COUNTS  NOT. 

* '  In  public  life  I  am  happy  to 
say  that  I  have  known  many  men 
who  were  elected  and  constantly 
re-elected,  to  office  in  districts 
where  the  great  majority  of  their 
constituents  were  of  a  different  re- 
ligious  belief.     I   know   Catholics 


The  Letter  23 

who  have  for  many  years  repre- 
sented constituencies  mainly  Pro- 
testant, and  Protestants  who  have 
for  many  years  represented  con- 
stituencies mainly  Catholic,  and 
among  the  congressmen  I  know 
particularly  well  was  one  man  of 
Jewish  faith  who  represented  a  dis- 
trict in  which  there  were  hardly 
any  Jews  at  all.  All  of  these  men 
by  their  very  existence  in  political 
life  refute  the  slander  you  have 
uttered  against  your  fellow  Ameri- 
cans. 

"I    believe   this   republic   will 
endure  for  many  centuries.     If  so 


24  The  Letter 

there  doubtless  will  be  among  its 
presidents  Protestants  and  Catho- 
lics, and  probably  at  some  time 
Jews.  I  have  constantly  tried 
while  president  to  act  in  relation  to 
my  fellow  Americans  of  Catholic 
faith  as  I  hope  that  any  future  presi- 
dent who  happens  to  be  a  Catholic 
will  act  toward  his  fellow  Ameri- 
cans of  Protestant  faith.  Had  I 
followed  any  other  course  I  should 
have  felt  I  was  unfit  to  represent 
the  American  people. 

DIVERGENT  FAITHS  IN  CABINET. 

' '  In  my  cabinet  at  the  present 
moment   there   sit   side    by    side 


The  Letter  25 

Catholic  and  Protestant,  Christian 
and  Jew,  each  man  chosen  because 
in  my  belief  he  is  peculiarly  fit  to 
exercise  on  behalf  of  all  our  people 
the  duties  of  the  office  to  which  I 
have  appointed  him.  In  no  case 
does  the  man's  religious  belief  in 
any  way  influence  his  discharge  of 
his  duties,  save  as  it  makes  him 
more  eager  to  act  justly  and  up- 
rightly in  his  relations  to  all  men. 
"  The  same  principles  that  have 
obtained  in  appointing  the  mem- 
bers of  my  cabinet,  the  highest 
officials  under  me,  the  officials  to 
whom    is    intrusted    the    work   of 


26  The  Letter 

carrying  out  all  the  important  poli- 
cies of  my  administration,  are  the 
principles  upon  which  all  good 
Americans  should  act  in  choosing, 
whether  by  election  or  appoint- 
ment, the  men  to  fill  any  office 
from  the  highest  to  the  lowest  in 
the  land. 

Theodore  Roosevelt." 


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